


Balancing Act Part II: He Still Can't Skate.

by Fishyz9



Series: Balancing Act [2]
Category: Days of Our Lives
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-11
Updated: 2013-03-11
Packaged: 2017-12-04 22:29:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/715808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fishyz9/pseuds/Fishyz9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will and Sonny return to the ice rink with Arianna-Grace in tow, and then enjoy Father’s Day together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Balancing Act Part II: He Still Can't Skate.

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to my fic Balancing Act. It’s Mother’s Day here in the UK, so I thought a Father’s Day set in the future for Will and Sonny would be kind of sweet. Also, in this fic, Gabi is not evil, lol. I personally used to like her, especially when she stood up for Will. I’m hopeful that she may do this again; I guess we’ll see in the next few weeks!

** Balancing Act Part II: He Still Can’t Skate. **

 

Sonny.

I’m not sure what’s cuter: Will trying to impress his daughter as he stumbles across the ice with all the grace of a wounded water buffalo, or Arianna pretending to be impressed because she adores her dad and doesn’t want to hurt his feelings.

“We should race!” Will says brightly, even as he wobbles precariously.

The fact that Ari casts me a quick, doubtful look is enough to make me snort and cover my mouth with a balled up fist. I pretend to cough, but Will looks between us, affronted.

“What?”

“Daddy…maybe you should just stay close to the railing,” she says gently and with wisdom that no six year old should possess.

“Hey now,” he skates closer to the pair of us, and I just about fall in love with this little girl all over again when she practically flinches and glides closer to Will, as if worried that he might (will definitely at some point) fall.  He leans his hands on his knees so that he’s nearly eyelevel with her. “Are you making fun of my mad skating _skills_ , young lady?”

She sighs. “Oh dad, you’re so _old_.”

I laugh out loud as his face goes slack with surprise. He looks up at me, and I can see he’s on the verge of cracking up. “Twenty five is old, apparently.”

She pats his shoulder. “No, it’s just the way you talk. Don’t feel bad, you won’t die for a long, long time.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” He nods.

I swear, for me? The sun rises and sets with these two. I love them.

“Do you want to see my trick?” She asks.

“There’s a trick? You have a trick?”

She nods. “Yep. Well…it’s just twirling, but it’s more than you can do, so…”

“Smart-aleck” he mutters, and then kisses the tip of her nose. She scrunches her nose up but smiles, her dimples peeking out.

She holds her hand out for him and he takes it without thinking. He frowns when she gently pulls him behind her, towards me. She holds his hand out to me, as if he is her most precious belonging, and with bubbling amusement I take it.

“Look after him” she whispers.

Will presses his lips together in a tight line and his shoulders slump as he looks at me, resigned. I just about keep it together.  “I promise,” I stage whisper back, giving her a wink. She glides away.

“Is she looking?” Will asks.

“No.”

He plunks his forehead against my shoulder and grips my arm. “I _hate_ ice skating.”

“I know, but look at how much she loves it.”  I gently turn him, and the smile that splits across his face is nothing short of beautiful. He watches his daughter twirl on the ice, the very definition of graceful.

“When did she learn to do that?” He asks, and the genuine awe in his voice is endearing beyond words. “That’s _amazing_!”

“Gabi taught her.”

I’ll have to tell Gabi about Will’s endeavors today the next time she drops by Common Grounds for our weekly coffee together. She’ll split her sides laughing.

To be honest, it took more than one heart to heart between the two of us, but we eventually found our footing. For the longest time I wasn’t prepared to hear her explanations when it came to the fiasco with Andrew and Melanie. But ultimately, I couldn’t write her off completely, not when she came through for Will at the expense of her own happiness.

Ari glides back over to us, all smiles and with cheeks flushed. “Did you see?”

“Did we _see_?” Will repeats, and not one bit of his enthusiasm is forced. “You were wonderful, just like a princess!”

She skates to my side, leaning her head against my hip and beaming up at Will, his words meaning the world to her. My hand automatically moves to gently stroke over her hair. “Your braid’s coming undone.”

She glances up at me and then moves in front of me without a word, silently asking me to fix it. I pull my gloves off with my teeth and tuck them under my arm. I pull the pink bobble loose, wrapping it around my wrist, and quickly re-braid her hair while Will makes her giggle, asking her if she thinks he could learn to twirl.

“All done,” I say, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.

She leans back against me, reaching for my hands and swinging them as she watches Will attempt a slow, rather pathetic twirl in front of us.

“You need to watch me and Sonny.” She decides, pulling my hand, and then orders her father to stand by the railing with a point of her finger. “Go stand there.”  I force myself to not laugh as I pull my gloves back on.

“I’m fine right here, sweetie.” He reassures her.

She frowns, and a little pucker forms between her eyebrows. She looks exactly like Will when he does that. Her worry is clear and quite genuine, and melts both Will and myself within a nanosecond. “No, daddy, you might fall.”

“ _Will_.” I say with a raised eyebrow, and he concedes with a soft smile, moving to stand with one hand on the railing.

“Good. Now watch me and Sonny.” She pulls me along.

I love holding this little girl’s hand. I love how she leans her weight into me, without thought and just trusting that I’m there. She effortlessly wormed her way into my heart the first time I saw Will hold her, but I knew I was utterly lost the first time her fingers wrapped around my pinky, bringing it to her mouth to in an effort to nurse.

She calls me Sonny, but those big blue eyes call me dad. I’m twenty nine, I own my own business, I share a mortgage and I’m still unequivocally, whole-heartedly in love with Will. But she completes it all. She was utterly unexpected and caused more than a little uproar in Salem, but none of this would work without her. Not anymore.

She stops in front of me, taking my hands. “Let’s show dad how to twirl properly.”

“Okeydokey.” She pulls me into an effortless twirl, and it takes her only a second to realize that she can go a lot faster with me holding her hands. She sticks her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrates. It’s friggin adorable.

A quick look over at Will, and I can see that he’s hugging the side of the rink, but there’s a markedly tender look about him as he watches us. I know that look, and it will never cease to affect me. When he looks at me and Ari like that, I know that he’s looking at everything he’ll ever want. He’s looking at his family. There’s nothing else in the world like that look.

“Is he watching?” She asks. Her hands so small in mine, hanging on to me.

“He sure is. Shall we _really_ show him something?”

“Yes!”

“Okay.” I check around us to make sure we have enough space, and then I tell her to hold on. We twirl faster until her skates lift up off the ice, and that wonderful, distinctive little girl giggle fills the air.

I lift her as we slow and come to a stop so that she can find her footing, and she hugs my middle breathlessly. We both look over to see Will clapping and cupping his gloved hands around his mouth to call out to us.

“I think he’s impressed.”

She’s still breathless. “That was cool.”

I nod. “Yes it was.”

“Sonny?” She looks up at me, resting her chin on my stomach. “Thank you for coming ice skating.”

I didn’t think I’d be able to, not with how short-staffed we were at the coffee house, but I was able to find cover at the last moment and join them both at the rink. “My pleasure, little lady. I knew you’d need help looking after your dad on the ice, so…” I’m only half joking.

She grins, biting her tongue. “No, silly.” She chastises me. “I like it most when you’re here too.”

I look at her, blink a few times and clear my throat. I’m not letting a six year old make me cry. No matter how adorable she is. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

“Come on,” she says, taking my hand—how she can be so bossy and sweet at the same time is beyond me—to lead me back to her father. “Now it’s dad’s turn.”

“Oh, he’s going to be happy to hear that, trust me.”

We join Will at the edge of the rink, and he wastes no time pulling Arianna into a hug to praise her. I cough into my fist and he looks at me, amusement clear in his eyes as he pats my shoulder. “You were very good too, Sonny.”

“I was, wasn’t I?” I beam, and Arianna laughs at me.

“Now it’s your turn.” She says to Will, reaching for his hand and tugging.

Will’s face immediately blanches and he cuts a glance at me. “Oh um, well, honey, I probably won’t be as good as Sonny.”

“Yes, I know that” she says, not even intending to be funny but I bark out a laugh anyway and Will glares at me. “We won’t do anything fancy, we’ll just skate. Come on, dad.”

“It’s okay, Will.” I encourage. “You can’t fall if she’s holding your hand.”

I don’t even realize what it is I’ve said until he pauses, and gives me a meaningful look. It’s then that the familiar words bring to mind a memory of Will, pacing back and forth at the hospital, talking about skating and camping.

He gives me an intimate smile, his hand reaching out to simply brush the length of my arm before he turns back to Arianna. “Alrighty then,” he says with forced cheer, and then whispers to me: “Stay close.”

I shake my head, chuckling to myself. I want them to have their moment together so I hang back, ready to swoop in if it looks like Will is about to go toppling. I can hear their chatter which is mostly just Arianna instructing Will on how to not fall over, and it strikes me right there (and not for the first time) how completely unprepared I was to be this happy.

When I was younger (before I met Will) I was all about adventure and experiencing life to the fullest. I climbed mountains. I travelled. I jumped off cliffs and out of airplanes. Back then, settling down before I was thirty seemed like a sentence to be served. It seemed to me that starting a family so young was to say goodbye to your freedom and to all the possibilities that lay ahead. It never occurred to me that what I would gain would mean so much more than any of those things.

Who knew how important school plays and helping a little girl with her homework would become to me. I’ve swam with dolphins, I’ve seen the Northern Lights, I’ve gambled in Las Vegas, I’ve ran marathons and I’ve seen the sun set over a dessert. And all of that was nothing compared to seeing Ari learn how to walk, or seeing Will’s face light up when she first called him _dad._

Now? Now I look forward to Friday nights in with Will, curled up on the couch and watching a movie. I look forward to our every other weekend with Arianna. I even look forward to Will’s atrocious cooking after a long day at work. I look forward to hearing about _his_ day as a junior at the prestigious IT firm he works for, (he’ll be an exec there in no time, he’s incredible with a computer). I never thought I would be this person, but I am so glad that I am.

And it’s all because of that man. A man who is currently being led around the ice by his six year old daughter. She’s holding both of his hands, coaxing him along like a toddler as she skates backwards effortlessly.  I think it’s the height difference that’s killing me here. He’s bent over at the waist so as to hold onto her outstretched hands, his cute butt just jutting out as he wobbles along.

I think I’ll go die now.

But not before I snap a picture on my phone, and text it to Gabi saying: _Shouldn’t this be the other way around?_

Will.

Nine times out of ten, I wake up in the best mood ever. And the reason why? He’s currently lying on my back. There’s no better feeling than his chest against my back, his breath against shoulder. Usually I’ll have to nudge him awake, or I’ll feel his smile against my shoulder that tells me he’s awake but too comfortable to let me move.

It seems this morning that someone’s awake before me. If the lazy, lingering kisses against my shoulder is anything to go by. My sleepy hum turns into a soft groan when I feel his tongue at the crook of my neck.

“God, I love it when you do that.” I murmur, stretching my neck to give him more room.

“I know you do.”

Oh hell, his voice is all husky. That’s my kryptonite right there. That and his hand sliding down my side, just following the shape of my body. “You’re being a tease.” We keep the fooling around to a minimum when Arianna is home with us, he knows that.

“Just think of it as a preview of what’s to come later tonight.”

I groan, dangerously close to humping the mattress, I’m so turned on. I nudge my shoulder at him and he lifts up an inch, just enough for me to roll over. Before my back is even flat on the mattress his mouth is on mine. He moans into my mouth and it vibrates all the way through me, like a bell that’s just been rung. I can’t help it, I roll my hips upwards. Luckily he has the sense to pin my hips back against the mattress, before we reach a point of no return.

“Now who’s being a tease?”

His eyes are hooded, his hair is all over the place and he’s warm and heavy on top of me. He’s beautiful. “You started this.” I say, stretching my neck for another kiss.

He smiles lazily, but he turns the kiss into something tender, rather than heated, his subtle way of putting on the breaks.

“I only meant to wake you up.”

“Yeah, and I’m awake. What are you gonna do about it?” I nip at his lip, my arms sliding over his shoulders and around his neck.

“Uh…” I see his throat work, and it thrills me that I still have this effect on him after all this time. “I didn’t think this through.”

I laugh softly, and let him off the hook with a more or less chaste kiss. He relaxes against me, but it makes me smug to feel that he’s as aroused as I am right now. “So what’s the deal with waking me up at the crack of dawn?”

He grins. “You’ve forgotten what day it is.”

I think for a moment, and then I remember. “ _Ooh_. Father’s Day. Time to get spoiled!”

“To an extent.”

“You mean I don’t get a Ferrari? What the hell, man?”

“I know. Life’s so hard.”

“Next you’ll be telling me I don’t get a pony.”

“You _don’t_ get a pony.”

I press my lips together in a tight line of disapproval. “I’m going back to sleep.” I try to roll away from him but he pulls me back, laughing.

“How about the traditional breakfast in bed?”

“Keep talking.”

“What are you, royalty?”

I stick my nose up in the air. “Do you really need to ask?”

“You are still _such_ a dweeb. It’s not even funny.”

“Yeah, well, you’re all in love with me, so what does that make you?”

He snorts. “Fair question.”

I stretch, pushing my hands against the headboard. I love how his eyes rake over my body. “Now, now. None of that.” I smirk.

He scowls at me. “I should have just left you snoring in bed.”

“Okay, one? I don’t snore; we’ve been over this—”

“Ever heard a freight train? Because it sounds freakishly similar to—”

“And two? Why didn’t you?”

He’s grinning, and then lets out a deep sigh, looking me up and down. “I was going to, but I was watching you sleep, and you just looked so fine—”

“Aw. Creepy much?”

He laughs and pokes me in the ribs. “You just looked so good. Like…good enough to _eat_.” His hand palms my chest as he says this. “I couldn’t keep my hands off of you. I needed to wake you up and hear you talk, I needed to see those pretty eyes.”

Well damn if _that_ doesn’t make my heart skip a beat. I clear my throat.

“And like I said, the snoring was just becoming unbearable, so…”

“You’re really good at killing the moment, you know that?”

He grins and is about to say something else, but the toilet flushing down the hall distracts him. “Sounds like our little miss is awake. Hungry?”

“ _Pfft_. I’m always hungry. You’d think you would have learned this by now.”

“You’d think.” He gets up, picks his sweats up off of the floor, sliding them on, and then pulls on the T shirt I was wearing the day before and that never quite made it to the laundry basket. I watch him, enjoying the view, until he turns back and leans across the bed to press a quick kiss to my lips. “Go back to sleep for a bit.”

I’m about to answer when there’s a soft knock at the bedroom door, followed by a hushed _Sonny?_ We shoot each other identical grins, and then Sonny’s opening the bedroom door, looking down and pressing his finger to his lips. He closes the door behind him, and I slink down under the sheets.

Not for the first time I ponder the idea of karma. My childhood was all kinds of messed up, and so life as an adult is just plain awesomesauce? I can get on board with that, I really can.

I am so blessed; I’ll be the first to tell anyone that. My daughter is my heart. She’s my angel. With eyes like mine, hair the color of her mother’s and the personally of a wise, little old lady in the body of a six year old, I couldn’t adore her more. I love my job. I love my home. I love Sonny.

Oh God, I love him. He’s my partner and friend. He’s the one person who can set my pulse racing every damn time and, _hopefully_ , soon—if I ever gain the courage to actually give him the small ring-shaped box hidden in the back of my sock draw—we’ll be something a little more official.

For right now, the two major loves of my life are in the kitchen, as per Father’s Day tradition, making me breakfast. I have it good. I’m beyond lucky, because it could all have so easily have not worked out at all.

Sonny said something to me once, years ago, and it’s stuck with me ever since. He said that even when things are good; it’s still all just a balancing act. And he’s right. I didn’t quite understand him at first, but time and a child have a way of putting things into perspective.

We love each other deeply, but we still work at our relationship. We take the time to surprise each other, we make time for romance. The same goes for Arianna. The dynamic between Gabi, Sonny and I was far from plain sailing. To say that things between Gabi and Sonny were tense for a while is an understatement. And I could understand how difficult it was for both of them, because they know me in intimate, separate ways, but eventually they came to realize that, whether they liked it or not, they were tied to each other through me.

It helped that Sonny is so much more inelegant than I am, and was able to connect the dots fairly quickly. It went something like this: He loves Ari. Ari loves her mother. Therefore, the tension had to be broken from his side. For Gabi? Ari loves me, I love Sonny and, eventually, Ari came to love Sonny too, so the catty back and forth soon ceased.

And wow, am I glad it did, because what it all trickled down to was this: In the end, Gabi had all the power. She was the only one who could tear up those papers keeping me away from my daughter. She was the only one who could cut my psychopath of a cousin out of the picture whilst keeping me—and a good portion of my family—out of prison, and that’s exactly what she did.

Eventually.

And she did it at the expense of her own happiness, because I don’t doubt for a second that she loved Nick. Hell, she married the bigoted nut-bag. But thankfully for me (and for her too, I think) the girl I remember from before Nick Fallon entered the picture still existed. She was lurking there the entire time, afraid of admitting to her big secret with the kidnapping (not one of her finer moments), and was just as lost and vulnerable as any of us.

Now we have peace, because of Arianna-Grace. It’s funny how a child can just soften a person up, how they can make grudges seem pointless. She changed all of our lives for the better, and she doesn’t even know it.

I sit up, moving the covers aside, and slip into Sonny’s robe. I want to see my family. I walk down the hall and into the kitchen. They both have their backs turned to me, chatting away, so I just lean there against the doorjamb watching them. Ari is kneeling on a chair in her onesie so that she can reach the counter, and Sonny is beside her, watching what she’s doing.

“Well,” Sonny says, “you have a very long time to think about it, so I wouldn’t fret too much just yet.”

“Think about what?” I ask.

They both turn, both smile, and Ari is off the chair and in my arms in a second. I catch her and lift her, swinging her into my arms and smushing kisses to her cheeks. “There’s my girl.”

“Happy Father’s Day!”

“Why thank you, it smells great in here!”

Arianna shimmies down, out of my arms and over to Sonny who is holding a plate for her to take. I walk over to the kitchen table and grin. “Oh my goodness, would you just look at this banquet!”

The table is set with a jug of orange juice and glasses, fruit, a plate of muffins and, of course, coffee. I smile at Sonny when he surprises me by pulling my chair out for me, and I give Ari a wink when she sets my plate down in front of me.

“Is that French toast?”

She nods, biting her tongue as she grins.

“I love French toast. Who told you I absolutely _love_ French toast?” I look at Sonny. “Was it you?”

She actually rolls her eyes at me, and Sonny laughs in surprise. “Daddy, you have French toast all the _time_ , silly.”

“So I do. Well, this looks even better than usual.”

“That’s because it’s Father’s Day.” She says primly, and just as she’s sitting down, she jumps up to her feet again. “I have to get your card!”

“That’s okay, sweetie, it can wait until after…” I trail off, watching as she darts out of the kitchen, completely ignoring me. I look at Sonny. “Never mind, then.”

He snorts, pouring himself some coffee with one hand and taking a bite out of his toast with the other. He gestures with the coffee, lifting an eyebrow in a _do you want some_ gesture, and I shake my head no.

“What were the two of you talking about before I came in?”

A smile splits across his face, and he puts down his coffee mug. “She was telling me that she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to be a dentist when she grows up, or a psychiatrist.”

I nearly choke on my toast. “ _What_?”

“Get this. If she’s a dentist, that means she’ll get free dental treatment. But if she’s a psychiatrist—and she can’t really pronounce psychiatrist, it’s adorable—then that means she can work with grandma Marlena when she’s older.”

I drop my toast on the plate and swipe a hand over my face. “Oh my God, she’s _six_.”

“And already thinking about her options,” Sonny says as he takes another bite of his toast, pointing his pinky at me. “She may very well rule the world one day.”

Arianna comes running back into the kitchen, smiling and with her hair all over the place. She proudly hands me my card. “Here you go, dad.”

I quickly dust any crumbs off my hands and take it. “Thank you, sweetie.” I pull the card out of the envelope; I can’t stop the smile that splits across my face. “Is that an elephant?”

She smiles sheepishly. “Yeah. I made it at school. My teacher said elephants didn’t really have anything to do with Father’s Day, but I was in the mood to draw elephants, and I told her that you’d like my picture of an elephant.” She stops, looking at me, biting her lip. “So I drew an elephant.”

I see Sonny out of the corner of my eye, leaning both elbows on the table and covering his mouth and nose with his hands, fingertips pressed together. He’s hiding a huge smile, I can tell.

“You know what?”

“What?” she asks, big blue eyes watching me.

“I _love_ elephants.”

Her eyes go wide. “I _knew_ you’d like it!” She says with such satisfaction that it is just plain startling, coming from a six year old.

I open the card and read it out loud. “To dad, happy Father’s Day, love, Arianna.”  I close the card, and pull her forward for a hug. “I love it. Thank you, sweetie.”

“Welcome!”

She hops down, and I think she’s about to take her seat again, but she flies straight past it, towards Sonny. I only notice that she has something else behind her back when she hands an envelope to a startled Sonny, who takes it slowly.

“This is for you, Sonny.”

He casts a quick look my way and I shrug. He opens the envelope and pulls out a card, much like my own, but with a picture of a…dinosaur on the front?

“It’s a kangaroo.” She clarifies, chewing the corner of her lip. “My teacher said that kangaroos didn’t really have anything to do with Father’s Day either, but—”

“But you felt like drawing a kangaroo?”  He asks softly, and I have never seen him so touched in my life.

She nods her head, and the way she nervously twists the fabric of her onesie behind her back as she waits for him to read it just about kills me.

He opens the card, and reads: “To Sonny, happy Father’s Day, love Arianna.”

He closes the card, looks at her, places the card on the table and then pulls her into his lap. He hugs her close and whispers into her ear. I don’t hear what he says, but I don’t really need to. I’m resting my elbow on the table with my hand covering my mouth, because quite honestly? If I try and say anything now I’m liable to start tearing up.

“Happy Father’s Day,” Ari says to him, as if it’s no big deal at all, like it isn’t the first time she has ever—in a roundabout way—acknowledged Sonny as a second father figure, and then shimmies off his lap and goes back to her own seat. Meanwhile, we’re both emotional wrecks over here, and she hasn’t a clue.

“I can’t wait to tell my teacher that you liked my cards.”

“We love them.” Sonny says, his voice only a little unsteady. She doesn’t seem to notice.

She tucks into her toast, doing a little dance in her chair. “My teacher is so silly; she looked at me all funny when I said I had to make two cards.” She says around a mouthful of toast, and I can tell by the quiet _thump, thump,_ that she’s swinging her feet happily. She rolls her eyes in what is becoming a familiar habit. “It was like she’d never heard of someone having two dads before. So _silly_.”

I pretend to cough into my fist to hide my smile, because the man sitting across from me is in desperate need of a hug. “I’ll tell you what, why don’t you go get cleaned up,” I say to Ari. “And we’ll pack up these muffins and take them to the park with us. How does that sound?”

She beams. “Okay!” She jumps down, taking her plate to rest it on the kitchen counter, and then darts off to her room.

I waste no time. I stand, holding my arms out, already laughing. “Up you get, come on, bring it in.”

He pushes his chair back and stands, still a little shell-shocked as I pull him into my arms. I clutch him close, rubbing his back. Poor guy. He just got hit with father-daughter emotions, big time. “You doing okay?” I chuckle.

“Oh my God,” he mutters into my neck. “I think I understand how you get so emotional all the time.”

I pull my head back, glare at him, and he manages a small smile. Even now, he takes the time to make fun of me. _Idiot_.

“We should go get ready. You go take a shower while I clean this up.” I offer, rubbing his arms. I feel almost smug. I loved the dazed, happy look in his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah okay.” He moves past me, stops, and turns to look at me. “Did that really just happen?”

I don’t say anything, I let my smile do all the talking, and suddenly he’s pulling me into his arms. My hand at the back of his head cradles him close and I laugh as he rocks us. “Isn’t it amazing?” I ask. And without having to explain myself he gets it. He knows that I’m talking about her love. Love from a little girl just offered freely, for no other reason than you are _that_ important to her.

“Yeah, it really is.”

I pull my head back, cup his jaw, and run my thumb over his cheek. “I love you.”

He brushes his lips against mine. “I love you.”

We don’t say anything else. We don’t need to. We have this balancing act down to a T. Now, it’s just a matter of enjoying it.

 


End file.
